Rise of the Zodiacs (A Ready Player One Prequel)
by KevinTheHamster
Summary: January 2011: The OASIS is still in development in secret, planned to be a virtual re-creation of Columbus, Ohio with an RPG twist. But, Halliday and Ogden discover a bug that has exploited a hole in the code for a major quest line in the game. Scott Sanders, armed with an entire arsenal of video game weapons, must stop the bugs and save the OASIS.
1. Chapter 1

"Video Game Testers Wanted", the flier read. As an avid gamer, the thought of being able to play a potential best-selling game before anyone else always peaked my interest. The red hand on the crosswalk sign was still illuminated, so I read on.

"GG Industries is a newcomer to the gaming world and is looking for willing subjects to test a new line of virtual reality video games."

At that point, my mouth was practically watering. Virtual reality had always been the video game equivalent of a wet dream for me. Although pop culture had shown many examples of virtual reality video games in television and movies, no game companies IRL had the technology to create it. I made up my mind. I ripped the flyer off of the pole and ran across the street, shoving the now crumpled piece of paper into my coat pocket.

…

I arrived back at my apartment minutes later, nearly out of breath. Admittedly, my apartment wasn't the classiest. I had a couch, a small TV for my console games, a bed, a desk for the PC that I built myself, a bathroom and a kitchen. What more could a twenty-four year old gamer need? Of course, I certainly wouldn't have hated having actual decorations in my apartment, but sacrificing my less important possessions was worth being able to build my own gaming PC. Needless to say, my PC was my most prized possession and was where I spent most of my time. If I wasn't eating lunch or collecting trash as a "waste collection specialist"—or "garbage man" to the general population—I had my hands on my keyboard and my headphones on, usually spending hours a day playing either my favorite games from when I was younger, like Final Fantasy 7 or Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, or some of my recent interests like Fallout: New Vegas or Call of Duty: Black Ops. Although, if I ever wanted to play a MMO like World of Warcraft, I had to borrow Internet access from apartment 306, who conveniently didn't have an access password. I didn't feel bad about using it without their permission. I mean, if they didn't want me using it, they would've put a password on it, right? Plus, the bandwidth was never bad so it seemed like they didn't use it much anyway. But of course, I had bills of my own to pay. I had to pay the rent and buy food, so I was living paycheck-to-paycheck. Being a garbage man made this lifestyle a bit hard, but I made it work. But, honestly, I didn't mind all that much either. As long as I had some food in my belly and video games in front of me, I was content.

I slammed the apartment door and ran to my bedroom, quickly punching the details on the flier into my phone. I left my phone at home that day because I rode the city bus to the grocery store. Last time I took my phone on the bus, it got stolen and I didn't have enough money to get another one this time so I wasn't going to take any risks. As I typed out the time and date in the calendar of my phone, thoughts of all kind began to rush through my head. What kind of game would it be? Platform? Adventure? FPS? How much would I be paid? Or, more importantly, would the money get me through this month's rent? Once the excitement in my head died down, I glanced at the clock: 9:48pm. The testing wasn't until the day after tomorrow, so I decided to treat myself to some late night video games. I sat down at my desk, flipped on the computer monitor and double-clicked on the desktop folder that contained the various video games and ROMs I had acquired over the years. I admit, some of the games in my library weren't exactly obtained in a lawful way, but it wasn't hurting anyone. I scrolled through the seemingly endless list and debated which game to play first.

As the hours passed, I became more and more tired, but I was used to fighting it. It was worth it to continue playing. Gaming was the only thing that kept me going in life at that point. After failing to even get into a community college, I moved out of my parents' house and got my own apartment. It was my plan to get a dorm in college and move out anyway but, since my parents didn't have to pay gratuitous amounts of tuition money, they lent me enough for the first three months of rent for wherever I could find my own place. At the time, I was working as a cashier at my local grocery store and didn't have a lot of money, so I had to pick somewhere cheap so I could afford the rent when my parents' money ran out. After searching and searching, I finally stumbled upon a small apartment complex in downtown Columbus. It wasn't the most luxurious place I looked at, but it was decent considering how much the rent was.

The first eighteen years of my life were spent in a small town in Maine called Aurora. For my entire life, I wanted to get out of that town, out of Maine. I wasn't sure where I wanted to go, but I decided on Columbus because I had an old high school friend, Chad Reeves, who was going to Ohio State University in the fall. At least then I would know someone who I would be able to contact if I was ever in a pickle. I first met Chad in 9th grade, my first year at public school. Up until that point, I was homeschooled by my parents. But once I hit fourteen, my dad thought it was time for me to start going to public school. There weren't any high schools around Aurora, but my dad was able to find a school about an hour away in Bangor, Maine. We went to visit Bangor High School in July and, since my parents liked it, I was enrolled that day. I wasn't particularly fond of the idea of public school, but my parents insisted on it.

My first day of high school was a nightmare. On my way to class, I had to maneuver through crowded hallways, and in class, I had to deal with disruptive freshman who didn't care about what the teacher had to say. I thought students would be more respectful of their teachers. But, there was one thing that made everything better: my fifth period Math class. When I first stepped in to Mrs. Wilson's classroom, I immediately felt a sort of comforting feeling I hadn't felt from any of my other classes. When she greeted me, her voice was like honey and her smile was warm and inviting, in contrast with the cold atmosphere of the rest of the school. This was also the class where I first met Chad. We were seated alphabetically by last name, so when I took my seat, it wasn't a minute later before I saw someone out of the corner of my eye sit down to the left of me. I turned my head and saw a tall, confident-looking guy who looked about as old as a senior, which was weird because we were in a freshman math class. He was dressed in a white Polo shirt and coral-colored shorts. He had medium-sized biceps that protruded from the short sleeves of his Polo. I've heard about the kind of people that look like this from TV. The popular crowd, the cool kids, the "preps". The people I knew I didn't want to be associated with. I turned back to face the front, waiting for the bell to ring and class to begin. As I sat there, studying each person who came through the door, I saw Chad looking over at me. I wasn't sure why he was even acknowledging my presence. I wasn't all that interesting to look at, and my clothes weren't anything to marvel at either. However, my mom did make me dress up that day for the first day of school, forcing me to wear my khaki shorts I'd only ever worn once. The only reason I complied was because she let me wear my Space Invaders t-shirt. Space Invaders was my very first video game, so when I got a Space Invaders-themed t-shirts for Christmas the previous year, it instantly became my favorite t-shirt. I ignored Chad, assuming he was probably trying to decide the best way to beat me up. But, just as I turned my focus my attention back on the door, I heard Chad start humming. I tried to ignore him but the familiar tune filled my ears and clouded my brain. My eyes widened slightly.

"So you DO know Space Invaders," Chad said to me, practically reading my mind.

"Yeah," I scoffed, "how do _you_ know what that is?"

"Well, I know you probably won't believe me," he said, leaning in closer, "but secretly, I'm a pretty big geek."

"Really?" I said, skeptically.

"Yeah! Here, ask me a video game question, anything you can think of." I smiled slightly at the sound of his request. I knew all there was to know about video game facts and history so, whenever I met a supposed "geek", I was always able to conjure up a few questions to test it. I decided to make the first one easy.

"Okay," I said, turning to him, "what inspired Toru Iwatani to create the character model for Pac-Man?"

"The Japanese character for 'mouth'," he swiftly answered.

"Alright." I paused and thought for a second. "What was the first home console developed by Atari and what year was it released?"

"The Atari 2600 and it was released in the US in 1977."

"True, but that wasn't the console's official name." I corrected him.

"Right, the company originally named it the Atari VCS, but with the release of the Atari 5200 in 1982, they decided to change the name of the system to the Atari 2600 after the system's model number: CX2600." I had to admit, he knew a lot more than I expected.

"Okay," I said, preparing my final question. "What five cities does Sega have international offices in?"

"San Francisco, Seoul, Moscow, Chessington, and Vancouver."

"Damn," I said. "You sure know your video games."

"Well, I've done my research." He stuck out his arm, offering a handshake. "Chad Reeves."

"Scott Sanders," I said, accepting his handshake. And that was it. The way he answered my questions without even thinking about it, his vast knowledge of video game history. I knew I had made a friend.

The next four years were actually bearable thanks to Chad. I mean, sometimes he'd ditch me to hang out with his popular friends, but I understood. He had a reputation to uphold. Plus, spending too much time with other people left me feeling burnt out, and being alone let me recharge. Although, the times we did get to hang out were awesome. We'd hang out during lunch sometimes and talk about video game strategies and, on occasion, we'd take the school bus back to his house after school and play video games together. After graduation, however, we began to drift apart as Chad was preparing for college. We still chat occasionally, but it's been a long time since I've actually seen him. But regardless, I still appreciate the time we had together. Before I met him, I never had any friends. I was one of six kids in Aurora, all of which were elementary school aged when I started public high school. Most of the people living in Aurora was in their late 60s or older, but the families young enough to have children commuted to Bangor to work. On the days both of their parents were working, I was offered to babysit for them. My mom didn't have a problem with it. Our homeschooling schedule was very flexible so whenever I got an opportunity to make some money, we just postponed whatever we were gonna do until the next day. I never really liked having to keep little kids entertained for eight hours a day, but it was worth it to get paid.

For most of my life, both my parents owned and worked at a small restaurant in Bangor called Biggerson's. After I was born, they decided to work every other day, so at least one of them would be home to take care of me. Sometimes, however, the restaurant would be really busy and they both had to go into work. If that ever happened, my parents would sit me down at a table and give me a Game Boy Color we kept behind the counter, equipped with whichever game I was in the mood to play that day. I guess my parents were the ones that helped spark the interest in video games I have now. Not only did they give me a Game Boy Color for Christmas when I was six, but they also gave me a Nintendo 64 for my seventh birthday. I played the absolute living hell out of those systems, playing all kinds of games: Pokémon, Super Mario 64, Goldeneye 007, Star Fox 64, you name it. But, out of all the games I've played through the years, I will always remember my first game: Space Invaders.

When I was a kid, my mom would take me into town on Sundays when the restaurant was closed. We did all kinds of things, but the thing I'll remember most is when we would go to the arcade. When I was five, my mom and I discovered an arcade in a shopping center not too far from the mall. As soon as I discovered it, I insisted on us going there every weekend. When we went, she would always give me a five dollar bill and then go next door to look around in the JCPenney until I was done. There were all kinds of arcade games there, but when we went, I always gravitated toward the Space Invaders cabinet. I would exchange my five dollar bill for twenty shiny quarters and use all twenty trying to beat my record from the previous week. Ever since I started going to that arcade, I always had a Top Ten spot, signing my initials: SOS, for Scott Owen Sanders. At first I was only number ten, but as the weeks went by, I slowly climbed up the scoreboard until I was number one. I left the arcade the first time I made it to the number one spot with a skip in my step and a smile on my face.

When I came back the next week, I waited until the scoreboard popped up before starting my game so I could marvel at my amazing achievement. But, when the screen finally displayed the Top Ten, I noticed my number one spot was taken by someone with the initials "SLW", pushing my name down to the number two spot. I'll admit, I was a little upset by this, but I took a deep breath and started my usual game, fueled by the desire to take back my self-given title as the King of Space Invaders. After about half an hour, my last quarter was all used up. I glanced at my final score, not able to remember whether I beat SLW's score or not. But, to my surprise, my new score appeared above SLW's previously number one score, prompting me to enter my initials. And from that day, I had declared war on SLW and vowed to never let his score remain in the number one spot for more than a week. When I came back the next Sunday, it was clear that SLW had accepted my declaration of war, as I was back in the number two slot. As the weeks went on, so did the war, each of us beating the score of the other every week. But, after a few months of our back and forth, I went in on Sunday to find that the Space Invaders cabinet had been replaced by a fancy new claw machine. I talked to Al, the owner of the arcade, and he told me the game had frozen in the middle of some girl's game on Wednesday afternoon so he decided it was time to replace it. The game was nearly twenty years old at that point. I left that day with a sad, empty feeling, one that could only be cured by the opportunity to play Space Invaders one last time. But, despite the loss of my favorite arcade game, there was one thing I always regretted: I was never able to uncover the identity of SLW.


	2. Chapter 2

I awoke the next morning to my screensaver, a drool-covered keyboard, and the sound of the alarm from my phone. I immediately shot up and looked around. I fell asleep at my computer again. I reached to the right of my keyboard and picked up my phone to turn off the alarm. I flipped open my phone and glanced at the time and date. 4am, Friday, January 21st. Trash day. I stumbled over to the closet and threw on a pair of jeans, a plain white t-shirt, and my Bangor High School sweatshirt. I had to be at work at 5am, so my usual Friday morning routine was catching the 4:10 bus so I could grab a cup of coffee from the Starbucks a few blocks away from work. I lazily made my way from my room and out the door to the bus stop and sat down at the provided bench. Almost immediately, I felt myself dozing off, but I was able to keep myself awake long enough to catch the bus. As the bus pulled up to the stop, I stood up, dug into my pockets, and pulled out two quarters. I stepped into the bus and deposited my quarters into the electronic money box to the right of the entrance. The light on top lit up green and I walked to the back of the bus and sat in my usual seat. The ride to the downtown bus stop was about twenty minutes away, so I set an alarm on my phone for 4:29am and leaned back for a quick nap, drifting off as soon as my head hit the back of the seat. Before I knew it, I awoke to my alarm going off just before I heard the bus screech to a halt. I put my phone into my pocket and stood up, making my way to the front of the bus. I stepped off and back into the cold January air, shoving my hands in my pockets to keep them warm. Luckily, the Starbucks was right down the street, so it wouldn't be long before I was back in the warmth.

After a few minutes of walking, the Starbucks was in sight. I jogged up to the door and threw it open, the smell of coffee beans and warm air filling my nostrils. As the door swung closed behind me, I stepped up to the counter and ordered the usual: a venti latte with two packets of sugar and a dash of cinnamon. I made my way down to the pick-up area and waited for my coffee. Luckily, the store was relatively empty early in the morning so I didn't have to interact with a lot of people. When my coffee was done, I put up my hood and ventured back out into the cold. Walking over to the crosswalk, I took a sip of my coffee and nearly spat it out from the temperature. The Starbucks I go to may make good coffee, but they sure do make it hot. I didn't bother waiting at the crosswalk since there weren't many cars on the road anyway.

As I walked the rest of the way, I held my coffee, waiting for it to cool down. When I finally made it to work, I took a small test sip. Perfect. I pulled my keys out of my pocket and unlocked to work door, quickly jumping inside and slamming the door shut to avoid letting the heat out. I took another sip of my coffee and glanced at the clock: 4:54am. I still had six minutes until I had to be there, so I went into the employee lounge and sat down at the table to finish my coffee.

As I drank, I looked around the lounge. It was a small room in a small building. Well, the only room in a small building. Outside the lounge was just a line of garage doors, garbage trucks, and the small punch card system on the wall near the door. Glancing around the room, I was constantly reminded of how broken and cheap the facility was. In the back corner of the room was an old refrigerator. The outlet it was plugged into stopped working just before I started working there, so I had never seen anyone use it. Unfortunately, someone left a ham and cheese sandwich in the fridge and, after a few weeks, it started to smell. Bad. Some of the guys went out and bought some of those little trees people hang from their rearview mirrors and tied them to the handle of the fridge. Of course, this didn't work. Eventually, we got one of the guys, Eddie, to scoop out the sandwich and throw it out, but the smell stuck around. It wasn't as bad as it was before, but you'd think that a bunch of people who worked with trash every week wouldn't be bothered by stuff like that. In the adjacent corner to the fridge was a vending machine. My first day on the job, I was excited that I'd be able to buy delicious snack foods at my leisure, but soon after I started working, the vending machine stopped being restocked, and whenever I'd look inside, all I would see was an old apple and a bag of chips from C3 stuck against the glass. Opposite from the fridge and vending machine was a large couch that stretched the entire length of the ten foot wall it sat against. Even though it was easily the most used thing in the room, it was still pretty shitty. The couch was an ugly puke green color with matching pillows. Even though management only had it put in about a month before, it stank of cheese balls and rotting meat, like they got it straight from the garbage which, considering I work for a trash collection company, wouldn't be too farfetched. It also had stains all across the cushions from people spilling various beverages while plopping down on the couch. I've been convinced to sit on it a few times, even though I didn't want to, and every time I did, my pants always ended up sticky on the backs of my legs. I tend to keep my distance from it now. In the middle of the room where I sat was a small card table and a folding chair. The workers at the facility thought we needed a table in the employee lounge, so one of the guys, Bobby, brought one in. There was only one chair, so if someone was using it, people usually sat on the couch to eat their lunch. Even though the lounge was worse than some of the garbage we collect, people actually used the employee lounge. Now that I had officially been transferred to the collection department, I only ever used it for my morning coffee, but the people in the factory department used it during their breaks and for lunch. The factory workers work on keeping the trucks clean, sorting the trash, running the machines, and relocating the sorted and compacted trash to the local landfill. They worked more days and were paid more than the people in the collection department, but I didn't mind. I made enough money, and I needed to reserve most of my time for gaming anyway, so I was content.

As I finished looking around the room, I lifted my cup to my lips, but it was empty. I sighed and got up to toss my cup and check the time. But, on my way to the main room, I heard the work door open and then quickly slam shut. I stopped in my tracks and quietly crept back into the lounge. I didn't really mind basic human interaction, but if I could keep to myself and avoid whoever was around me, I did. Suddenly, I saw a head poke around the corner and look in my direction.

"Hey hey hey, Scott-a-roonie!" Bobby said. Bobby Morrison, one of the most energetic and extroverted people I've ever met. He was a young-looking guy. The first time I met him, I thought he was still in high school, but he swears he's twenty-six. He had messy, brown hair that made it look like he had just gotten out of bed and, even at five in the morning, he was always happy and full of energy. I couldn't stand overly happy people—or most human interaction, for that matter—especially at five in the morning when all I could think about is laying in my warm bed until 3pm. And to make it worse, he had this "Joke of the Day" calendar so whenever I saw him, which thankfully wasn't very often outside of work, he always had some corny joke to tell me. The only thing I disliked more than human interaction was a corny joke.

"Hey Bobby," I hesitantly said, trying to squeeze past him and through the doorway.

"Oh, Scott," he said, putting up his arm in front of me, "Are you ready for your joke of the day? What did one corn stalk say to the other corn stalk?" I kept quiet, hoping it would end the interaction sooner. "I'm all ears!" He began to laugh hysterically, nearly collapsing to the floor. I didn't wanna be mean to the guy, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and laughed with a nervous tone and tried sliding past him. But, before I could get away, I heard Bobby call after me.

"Hey, Scott! Where're ya going?"

"Oh," I said, turning around. "I've got some... stuff that I gotta do so I'll catch up with you later!" I quickly turned around and started toward my work station before he could get another word in. I walked past the line of garbage trucks and through a set of double doors into the facility department. Through another set of double doors about ten feet away was the machine warehouse, but through a door to the left was the line of desks that made up the office workspace. Since I was the new guy in the facility, I had the desk in the very back corner. I enjoyed keeping to myself, so I didn't mind. I made my way to my desk, on which were a few pencils I brought in to have here in case I had paperwork, a piece of yellow paper, and a set of keys. I picked up the paper and examined it thoroughly. The paper told me that, on that day, I was in truck number nine and I was the driver. This was a huge relief for me, since all I had to do was drive around town all day. If I was a runner on the other hand, I would've had to dump trash into a truck all day, and I know from experience that it's basically hell on Earth. The only downside to being the driver is that you have to fill out paperwork after the route. It wasn't too bad though, just a route report, a post-route truck inspection, and a collection report. Attached to the back of my assignment sheet was the truck checklist to make sure the truck is okay to do the route. I tore that off and got to my truck to start the inspection. I went through the checklist quickly but thoroughly. Tire pressure: check. Brakes: check. Trash compactor: check. After the checklist was complete, I signed both pieces of paper and turned them in to the box near the punch card system. I then punched my card to say I was on the clock and quickly got to my truck. When I got there, truck number nine's runner of the day, Paul, was in his state-mandated jumpsuit ready to roll. I don't talk to Paul much so I didn't say anything as I passed him to start up the truck. After I got it cranked, Paul pressed number nine's garage door button on the wall and ran over to the truck, hopping on the back of the truck with one foot stepping on the back bumper and one hand holding on to a handle attached to the truck. Since we were in truck number nine, our first house was just down the road from the facility. When we made it to the first house, Paul hopped down from the truck and brought the trashcan over to the back of the truck. Once he got the trashcan in position, I would push a button that would activate a large, mechanical claw that would then dump the trashcan into the back of the truck. When the claw brought the trashcan back down, Paul took it back to the curb and hopped back on the truck to repeat the cycle at the next house. We usually did this about five hundred times on our route so, needless to say, we'd be at it for a while.

…

Once we pulled back into the facility, Paul immediately ripped his jumpsuit off and clocked out. I didn't blame him though. If I didn't have paperwork to do, I'd be doing the same thing. I sat back in my seat and glanced to my left. It looked like we were the first ones back, but truck number nine's route was undeniably the shortest route, so I wasn't surprised. Once I saw Paul slam the work door in the rear view window, I took a deep breath and hopped out of the truck. I walked back to the facility department, picked up the paperwork I had to fill out, and returned truck number nine's keys. I grabbed a pencil from my desk so I could do the post-route truck report back at the truck. I checked the tires to make sure we didn't have a flat, the mechanical arm to see if it was still operational, and I refilled the gas tanks so no one would have to do at 5am next Friday. After that, I went back to my desk and filled out the route report and the collection report. These two were fairly easy. The route report was basically describing the route, stuff like, "Did you hit any animals?" or "Did the traffic affect your route?". For the collection report, I only had to fill out the weight of the collected materials, as there's a scale build into the truck. The rest of it was filled out by the facility department. When those were done, I turned them in to the same box by the punch card system and punched my card to indicate I was now off the clock. I glanced at the time stamp before I put my card back in it's slot. It read 1:47pm. I was always happy if I was done with work before two.

I got back to the bus stop around two and, as I waited for the bus, my mind began to wander. I thought about an online video game tournament I had next weekend, I thought about what I would have for lunch when I got home, but I mostly thought about the virtual reality video game testing the next day. I was so excited, I could barely sit still in my seat on the bench. Soon after I sat down, I saw the bus turn the corner down the street and screech to a halt in front of me. I pulled out two quarters from my pocket, payed for my ride and walked to the back of the bus. I usually take a nap on my way home from work, but I was too excited to sleep. All I could think about was the video game testing. I was going to be the first person to have their hands on a brand new, revolutionary piece of technology.

Once the bus arrived at the bus stop outside my apartment, I quickly made my way to my apartment door, ran to my room and grabbed my dinosaur of a phone. I scrolled through the menu and set two alarms: one for 10:00pm that night so I could go to bed early, and another for 7:00am the next morning, just in case I forgot to set it before bed. With that all done, I plugged my phone into the charger next to my bed, set it down on the bedside table and logged in to my computer. The video game testing got me in the mood for RPG games, so I spent the rest of the day playing various role-playing games I had in my collection.

…

After a long day of questing, I returned to my virtual home and saved my game. Almost immediately after, I heard my phone start to play the original Super Mario Bros. theme song, my default alarm tone. As soon as I heard my phone's alarm go off, I logged off of my computer, put on a more comfortable outfit and jumped into bed. It took me a while to fall asleep, since all I could think about was the video game testing the next day, but after a while, I slipped softly into Dreamland.


	3. Chapter 3

I awoke the next morning to the sound of my alarm and a single beam of light shining through my window onto my face. I immediately shot up, as the day I had been so excited about had finally arrived. I jumped out of bed and ran over to my closet, throwing it open. I searched my closet for the perfect outfit to attend the testing and eventually found my best pair of jeans and my Space Invaders shirt from high school, along with my Bangor High School sweatshirt from the day before. I grabbed a fresh pair of briefs and a pair of old socks out of the dresser and went into the bathroom to shower. I quickly undressed and hopped into the shower, washing my hair and body thoroughly. I may be lazy but I didn't like being dirty either. After I was squeaky clean, I dried off and threw on my clothes. I was actually surprised that my Space Invaders t-shirt still fit, considering I got it back in eighth grade. When I exited the bathroom, I walked into the kitchen and glanced up at the clock above the sink: 7:28am. The testing didn't start until nine o'clock, but I knew I would have to take the bus since the address wasn't in walking distance of my apartment. I didn't have a lot to eat at home, so I just made a few pieces of peanut butter toast for breakfast, arguably my favorite breakfast meal. The bus that would take me near the address of the testing would be at the bus stop would be there in twelve minutes, so I had to eat fast. I inhaled my plate of food and grabbed my wallet from the table in my living room. I thought about taking my phone, but I didn't wanna risk losing it and I wouldn't need it for anything anyway. After I was sure I had everything I needed, I slipped on my shoes and ran out to the bus stop just on time to catch the 7:40 bus.

After the twenty minute bus ride, the bus pulled up to a stop a block and a half from the testing site. I hopped off the bus and pulled out a piece of paper with directions to the shopping center from the bus stop. I turned to my right and took off down the sidewalk, following the map I printed out with the directions. By the time I made it to the corner, I was out of breath so I decided to walk the rest of the way there.

When I finally made it to the shopping center, I looked around to see if I could figure out where the testing would be. Then, a large metallic figure in the distance caught my eye. An RV was parked on the other side of the parking lot in front of the Dollar General. Taped on the side of the RV was a large piece of poster board with "GG INDUSTRIES GAME TESTING" written in big letters on it. I made my way over to the vehicle and, as I got closer, I began to realize how big it really was. For one, it was a lot wider than I had realized, protruding from the curb a good fifteen feet, blocking any chance of traffic on that bit of road. In terms of length, however, it wasn't too much longer than an average RV, but it was still longer than any RV I'd ever seen. I also noticed a few rows of metal folding chairs to the right of the RV. As I approached the rows of chairs, a tall man exited the vehicle and greeted me.

"Welcome!" he said in a cheerful tone. His voice was calm and soothing, removing any hints of skepticism I had for the testing. He looked to be in his mid-thirties and had neat, black hair to match his freshly-shaven face. He wore a long, white lab coat over a black turtleneck and black pants, as well as a pair of large black glasses on his face. "Are you here for the video game testing?"

"Uh, I… uh…" I began to stutter. His kindness took me by surprise, I wasn't used to people being nice to me. To be fair, I grew up playing online video games where you're either known as a "noob" or a " faggot". "Yeah," I was eventually able to say.

"Excellent!" he exclaimed. "Let me get you a survey for you to fill out while you wait." Before I could get another word out, he quickly ran back into the RV and closed the door behind him. A few seconds later, he threw open the door and ran over to me, handing me a clipboard and a pen. "Don't you think you're a little early?" he asked. "We're not starting the event for another hour."

"Well," I began, "I like being early for things. Sorry if it was an inconvenience."

"Not at all," he said, reassuring me. "I'm glad you have such enthusiasm for video games, I'll remember that." I smiled slightly at his words. "Now, while you wait for the event to start, if you would fill this form out so we can see if you'll qualify for the testing, that would be great!"

"Alright, thank you very much, mister…" I said, looking for a name tag possibly pinned on his lab coat.

"You can call me Tom," he told me. "If you need anything, I'll be in and out, so just ask!" He then gave me a big smile and went back into the RV. When the RV door slammed shut, I walked over to the back row of folding chairs and started working on the form Tom game me. When I took a closer look at the paper on the clipboard, I noticed that the form was a lot longer than I expected. As I flipped through the pile of papers, I found that most of the form was a test of my knowledge of various genres of video games. This, of course, lowered my stress levels significantly. I turned back to the first page and started on the personal information section. The questions were fairly easy: my name, my age, my educational background, stuff like that. Near the end of the personal information section, they asked for my video game experience. They only gave me a few lines so I continued on the back of the form for a majority of the page. When I got to the video game quiz, I read a few questions and a smile came over my face. As I took the quiz, I noticed that it wasn't just video game knowledge, the second half of the quiz was actually opinions on different features in a video game as well as opinions on video game companies' decisions and product marketing techniques. On the second half of the quiz, there were questions like: "How likely are you to play a video game with these features?" and "If you were in Nintendo's shoes, what would you have done in this situation?". I found the second half of the quiz insightful and thought-provoking, yet difficult. I'd never really considered what I would do as a CEO of a company or a developer of a video game. The form didn't seem to take very long, but when I finished and looked up from the clipboard, about two dozen other people were scattered amongst the rows of folding chairs. When I checked my phone, I discovered I had been working on the form for almost forty-five minutes. But, to be fair, there were some hard decisions to make. How did they expect me to choose my favorite Final Fantasy game, or to pick between Mario and The Legend of Zelda?

Since I had some time until the testing started, I stuck my clipboard and pen under my chair and leaned back in my seat, shoving my hands in my pockets. As I sat, I glanced around at the others around me, sizing up my competition. According to the flyer I took, only those who were accepted for the testing would be able to test the game. Fortunately, the competition didn't look too tough. The majority of the group was teenagers, probably from the local high school. There was a fairly large independent video game company based in Columbus called Gregarious Games that always advertised their video game testing at the high school since that was their target audience, so most of the participants at the testings I went to were teenagers. But, as I glanced around, my eyes fixed on one person in particular. Sitting to my right at the opposite end of the row I was in was a girl who definitely seemed older than the high schoolers there. But she wasn't just any girl, this girl was prettier than any girl I'd ever seen. She wore a large coat over a light blue sweater and a pair of worn skinny jeans. Her auburn hair was up in a messy side ponytail that hung by her side as she meticulously filled out her form. Every once in a while, she would pause from writing to rest her hand and I would catch a glimpse of her radiant face. The sun reflected off of her light blue eyes like a beam of light shining on the sea. Sometimes, as she read a funny question, she would smile an adorably goofy smile and her nose would crinkle in a way that made my heart race. I considered talking to her a few times, but my awkward state of being kept me from even looking at her for an extended period of time. As I turned my head to get another glimpse of her, I heard a voice call out from in front of me.

"Hello everyone!" Tom enthusiastically said from the entrance of the RV. He walked down the two stairs that led into the vehicle and walked up to the first row of chairs. "I hope everyone is doing well today because we've got a fantastic game for you to play! That is, if you qualify of course." I didn't even think twice about leaving that day without playing that game. I had it in the bag. Although I did find it weird that you had to qualify to be able to test a game. Usually when I went to video game tests, everyone was able to play. "Speaking of which," he continued, "would you all pass your forms down to the left-hand side of your row?" As those words entered my ears, I froze. I turned my head to the right slightly and saw the mystery girl turn and walk in my direction. What would I do? What would I say? All my thoughts were rushing through my mind so fast that, for a few seconds, I didn't realize she was standing over me, holding out her clipboard. I turned to her and looked up at her impatient face, paralyzed by her beauty. I attempted to smile to make it less awkward—which, for the record, it didn't—and took her clipboard. I leaned over and grabbed my clipboard from under my chair but, when I sat back up, she was already back in her seat. Tom came around and collected the clipboards and, once they were all in his possession, he took them back into the RV. A few seconds later, he came back out and explained how the testing would work.

"Right," he announced as he positioned himself back in front of the chairs, "now that I have all of your forms, it's time to begin! Now, when you hear your name called, come on in to the RV and we will begin the assessment. If you pass that, you'll be eligible to test our game. But, don't worry if you don't pass, you'll still get paid." Another thing I didn't have to worry about. I was more experienced with video games than most of the people there so that was the least of my worries. "So, if no one has any questions, let the testing commence!" Tom smiled and ran back into the RV and closed the door behind him. After about a minute, he opened the door once again and stuck his head out. He cleared his throat and looked at his clipboard. "First up: Greg Wilson," he called. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a short, scrawny teenager who sat on the second row stand up and walk into the RV. From that point on, the wait was agonizing. Five, ten, even twenty minutes would pass between when someone would go into the RV and when they would come back out. After the first half-dozen potential testers, the wait became unbearable. I decided at that point to get some sleep to pass the time faster. Even though I had gone to bed early the previous night, I was still fairly tired. I sat back in my chair, but the hood of my sweatshirt up, and shut my eyes.

When I woke up, I immediately checked to see if I had missed my name. I looked around to see that all of the teenagers had already left and the only other person left in the rows of folding chairs was her. She was sitting with her feet on the edge of her chair in a kind of fetal position with her hood up and an earbud in her right ear. I didn't wanna make things more awkward if she saw me staring at her, so I turned my head and fixed my gaze on the door, waiting for Tom to call out the next name. Then, the door flew open and Tom stuck his head out of the RV. "Miss Watts? You're up," he told her. She yanked out her earbud and shoved her headphones into her jacket pocket. "I apologize for the wait," he said to me while the girl made her way to the RV. "We'll have you in as soon as we can."

"Thanks, Mr. Tom," I said. He smiled and then went back into the RV with the girl. While I waited for my testing session, the only thing my mind could focus on was her. I tried multiple times to focus on the testing, but I couldn't get her out of my head. The fact that she even showed up to a video game testing made me even more attracted to her than if I had simply seen her in public. After about fifteen minutes, I began to wonder if she passed the assessment and was able to test the game but, as that thought entered my mind, the RV door opened and she walked out, immediately walking out to the sidewalk and turning the corner. And, just like that, she was gone. I had no way of communicating with her and all I knew was her last name.

Just then, Tom walked out of the RV and called to me. "Scott?" he said as I turned my head to him. "Are you ready?" I nodded and stood up, taking off my hood. I walked up to the RV and followed Tom into the vehicle. The inside of the RV was a lot different than I expected. The usual things you would see in an RV; A kitchen area, a few booth seats, a table, and a few cabinets, were filled with papers I assumed were from the game research. To accompany the vast amounts of paper, dozens of wires snaked around the floor of the RV, plugging into various machines that were sitting on the counters. Sitting in one of the booth seats was a rather thin man who looked to be the same age as Tom. He was dressed in the same clothing style as Tom was: A long, white labcoat over a navy blue turtleneck. Contrary to Tom, however, this man had greasy, unkempt hair and a stubbly face. This man didn't have a nametag either so I couldn't address him directly. He looked up at me as I entered the RV and gestured for me to sit down across the table from him. I sat down and noticed the computer and precarious piles of papers lying on the table. I waited for about a minute as the man looked over my form. When he was done, he dropped the clipboard down on the table and leaned back in his seat, waving Tom over and whispering something in his ear.

"James and I thought your application was very impressive," Tom said.

"Thank you," I said, hoping it would earn me some points towards passing the assessment. He picked up my form once again and gave it a final scan before holding it out to Tom. As he grabbed it, James motioned for him to come closer to him and then whispered something to Tom.

"Alright, it looks like everything's in order. Let's get you hooked up," Tom said. I watched as Tom walked to the front of the RV.

"Um…" I started nervously. "Excuse me Mr… James, sir. What exactly are you hooking me up to?"

"Why, the game of course," Tom shouted from the front of the RV. "It may be virtual reality, but our vision of "virtual reality" is that it should not only look real, but feel real too." As he said that, Tom came back to the table with a strange headset-looking contraption and a pair of teched-out gloves. The headset looked like a pair of ski goggles combined with a black bike helmet. Tom fitted the headset onto my head and tightened the chin strap so it fit nice and snug. When the headset was positioned comfortably, Tom then inserted a pair of earbuds attached to the headset into my ears. The gloves, unlike the rest of the gear, looked like they came straight out of a sci-fi movie. The gloves fit tightly around my fingers and were attached to the computer just as the headset was. The gloves were decked out with wires, plastic joints and little sensors on the inside of the gloves that Tom told me would allow me to actually feel things that I was picking up in the game. Wearing the headset and gloves made me feel extremely badass.

"Now," Tom said, "if you feel nauseous or anything while you're playing, let us know and you can stop at any time. Do you have any questions before we start up the game?"

"Yeah, just one," I told him. "What kind of game is this?" Tom opened his mouth to say something, but was again waved over by James, who whispered something to Tom again.

"You'll see," he said with a smile. I dismissed the strange response and lowered the eyepiece onto my face. After a few seconds, I saw a small dot of white light that looked as if it were shining into my eyes. Suddenly, it started to move closer to me, the dot of light growing larger and larger until it engulfed my entire field of vision. And then everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4

"Um..." I said, puzzled, "Mr. Tom, was my screen supposed to go black?" I got no response. "Mr. Tom?" I called again, ripping out my right earbud. Still nothing. I pulled out the other earbud, unhooked the headset's chin strap and slid it up onto my forehead. I looked around only to find that the RV I was once sitting in had vanished and I was now sitting in a cold, metal folding chair in the parking lot where the RV once sat. "Mr. Tom?" I called. "Mr. James?" No response. I reached up to pull the headset off my head, only to find the headset had disappeared, as well as my gloves and earbuds. I stood up and took a few steps forward. Suddenly, I heard a voice from behind me. "Hello, Scott," it said. I quickly spun around and saw Tom standing where the metal chair once was.

"Mr. Tom!" I was relieved to see him. "What happened? How did I get out here? Where's the RV?"

"Scott, calm down, everything's fine," he told me. "This is the game."

"Wait, what?" I looked down at my body and examined it. My clothes looked exactly the same, felt exactly the same. Moving didn't feel any different. I looked back at Tom with a confused look. "But how?" I asked him.

"Well, there were a few things we left out when we first talked." He paused for a second. "You see, there are a few bugs with this build of the game."

"Well yeah," I responded, "A game in the middle of development is always going to have a few bugs."

"Yes, but these bugs have gotten a little out of control."

"What do you mean by 'out of control', exactly?" I asked, not completely sure whether or not I wanted to know.

"Well, what our coding team has been able to deduce was that these bugs have exploited a very large hole in the code that we hadn't noticed until now," he explained, "and now the bugs have created animate forms of themselves inside the virtual world in the game."

"So? Couldn't you just delete the line of code for those bugs?"

"Unfortunately, that's part of the "big hole" in the code the bugs exploited. Deleting the bugs would mean deleting a big chunk of the main code of the game, which could take months, even years, to rewrite. So, that's where our 'video game test' came into play," he told me, putting air quotes around 'video game test'. "We wanted to find the perfect candidate, or in this case candidates, to enter the game and destroy these bugs from the inside."

"Wait wait wait," I interrupted. "So what you're telling me is that, out of all the other applicants at the 'test', I was the most qualified person to remove the bugs in your game?"

"That's right, you and one other person. A girl named Sarah," he said, looking at his clipboard.

"But, I've seen every applicant come out of the RV, how is she at home right now, but also here playing the game?"

"Well, if you recall the headset we hooked you up to, the large dome on top of the headset actually scanned your exact brain pattern, translated that into code and inserted it into an avatar of you inside the game. So, even though your virtual brain thinks you're here in the game with me, your brain in reality has been told by James and myself that the game wasn't working and was sent home."

"Okay," I said, pausing to let the situation sink in. "But you said this was the game? It just looks like a simulation of a parking lot."

"Exactly! That's the idea for the game: a simulation of the real world with a medieval RPG twist. Greatswords, orcs, dragons, gold, quests, all in your virtual backyard. In the game, the players will automatically have their addresses in real life set as their homes in-game. Homes will act like safe houses for the players that live there: giving them a place to safely log-out and store items, as well as a place to respawn if they die. Right now, the game is limited to Columbus, but we hope to expand to simulate the entire globe on a one-to-one scale.

"Wow, that sounds amazing!" I responded, in awe.

"Indeed! But, back to the matter at hand: how to defeat the bugs. From what we've found so far, the bugs have taken over a main part of one if the quest lines we've been working on for the game. The quest line was based on the twelve zodiacs and so each of the bugs have taken the form of one of the twelve zodiacs. To complete the quest line, a player had to defeat all twelve zodiacs in a battle, so to destroy the bugs, you'll have to do just that. Of course, I don't expect you to just get dropped into a virtual world and be able to defeat twelve deadly monsters all by yourself, so we've designed a special, one-of-a-kind item for you to use." As he finished, he put up his finger and seemed to tap the air, which brought up a panel on front of him which I could only assume was his menu. To me, it just looked like a blank panel but, after a few taps, the panel dissipated and a small ring appeared in his hand. The thick, blank ring appeared to be made of silver. He promptly stretched out his open hand and gave me the ring. "Here, try tapping your finger in the air about six inches away from the ring," he told me. I did as he said and, when I did, a small window popped up where I had tapped. It was an all white window with the name of the item, its weight and its value. It read: "The Ring of Thanatos, Weight: 0, Value: -". There was also an option in the bottom right corner of the screen that read "To Inventory".

"Thanatos? Like the Greek word for death?" I asked.

"Precisely, I thought it had a nice _ring_ to it," Tom said with a chuckle. I just looked at him and rolled my eyes.

"So, what does this thing do?"

"Well, first, open up your menu by tapping the air in front of you and select the 'Inventory' option." As he requested, I tapped the air in front of me and a large screen appeared. On the left side of the screen, it had a lot of information about my character in the game. Of course, most of the information was blank since I hadn't gone through Character Creation yet but, once I did, it would list my character's name, my character's class and level, various skill levels, a picture of my current avatar, and all my IRL information. On the right side of the screen was a list of a bunch of different options to choose from: Inventory, Spellbook, Friend List and Logout, which was greyed out and couldn't be selected. I tapped on the Inventory option and the screen suddenly changed over to my inventory screen. On the left portion of the screen was a number of boxes with silhouettes of the different kinds of equipment I could equip to myself. There was a helmet slot, an armor slot, a necklace/pendant slot, a shield slot, a weapon slot, a gloves/gauntlets slot, two ring slots, and a cape slot. The right portion of the screen consisted of a list of items I currently had in my inventory. Of course, the list was empty since I had just joined the game. I took the ring Tom had given me and added it to my inventory with the "To Inventory" option. I then tapped on the ring listed in my inventory and a few options came up to the side, as well as the name, weight, and value of the ring. The options for the ring included Examine, Equip and Drop. I tapped the Equip option and the ring was automatically moved to the first ring slot on the left half of the screen. The ring then appeared on the ring finger of my left hand and was adjusted to fit perfectly.

"Great!" Tom said, "now just swipe the screen to either your left or right to exit the menu and I can show you what that ring can do." I did as he told me and walked over to him. "Now, we have given this ring the ability to give you any weapon from any video game you could think of. Just pretend to pull the kind of weapon from wherever you would usually have it on your body and you'll be automatically equipped with one of whatever weapon you wanted.

"So, if I wanted a sword, I would pretend to pull one from my side and it would just give me one, like this?" I reached my left hand down to my right hip and mimed grabbing the handle of a sword, but when I closed my hand, my hand closed around a real sword handle. I then proceeded to pull the now real sword from its imaginary sheath until I was holding in my hands the one and only Master Sword from the Legend of Zelda franchise.

"Perfect!" Tom exclaimed. "Just like that!"

"Wow," I told him as I admired the Master Sword. It was a lot heavier than I imagined. In the games, Link swings it around like it's nothing, but I had trouble controlling it in my hands. I re-sheathed the sword, which then disappeared when I let go of it.

"I thought you might like it," he said. "Do you have any other questions?"

"Nope, none that I want answered. I prefer to explore open-world games like these and figure out the little things in a game on my own."

"Great, then we'll go ahead and send you into Character Creation and then you'll automatically spawn back in your apartment. We hope you enjoy the game!"

"Thanks for everything, Mr. Tom!" I said as world dissipated around me. The next thing I knew, I was in a large room that looked like the inside of a circuit board. Balls of light shot around the room like electricity and the walls were lined with large versions of the components you would find in a computer. When the room finished materializing, a large window popped up in front of me, much like my inventory screen did, and listed a bunch of options for my character customization. Next to the list of options was a full-body figure of me dressed in my current attire: my Space Invaders t-shirt and a pair of jeans. It looked eerily similar to me, almost like they scanned my face right onto it. From the description Tom gave me, it seemed like he wanted to keep the game authentic to real life, so I wasn't surprised when I didn't see an option to change how I looked. I wanted to get through character creation as quickly as I could, so I tapped the first option on the list: my character's name. I tapped the character name box and typed in my default RPG character name: Avaren. After that, I chose my class. The class list seemed to resemble classes typically found in Dungeons and Dragons, with options including Wizard, Fighter, Barbarian, Warlord, Ranger, Paladin, and Cleric. For my class, I decided to go with the Fighter class, as I would most likely be using swords a lot. I usually liked playing as a Rogue, but given the circumstances, the Fighter class made the most sense. After I chose my name and class, I scrolled down to the stats. Normally, you would roll for a bunch of different stats: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, Charisma, and Dexterity for example. But since I was actually programmed into the game, my Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma, and Dexterity were based on my real-life abilities. And considering my overweight body, subpar looks and less than impressive physical abilities, I was a bit upset at this fact. The only stats I was able to roll for were Strength, for how much damage I would do, Constitution, for how many hit points I would have, and Luck, for how rare or plentiful my enemy drops or chest loot would be. I hit the roll button and, on the first try, I got some pretty good stats: a sixteen out of a possible twenty in Strength, a fifteen in Constitution, and a ten in Luck. I decided to keep those stats and hit the Continue button. As soon as I did, the screen in front of me dissipated and, after a few seconds, the world around me faded and changed into a very familiar place: my bedroom. As I looked around my apartment, I was surprised to see how well the simulation did with recreating it, at least with the framework. Most of the apartment didn't look how I had left it though, with the bathroom, kitchen and my room being void of personal belongings. In terms of furniture, it all seemed to be intact, other than the fact that I was able to see what my bed looked like when it was made for the first time since I moved in. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard what I assumed was an alert sound, followed by a small window appearing in the top-right corner of my vision that read 'Quest Log Updated'. I tapped on the window that appeared which then brought up a bigger window: my Quest Log. To my surprise, there was actually a good amount of quests Tom had started me off with. As I scanned the list, however, they all seemed to be beginner quests: visit the town marketplace, speak with the blacksmith of the town, complete beginner swordsmanship training, things like that. But, the last quest on the list was a little bit different than the others: "A New Ally - Rendezvous with a friend." Would I be meeting up with Chad—or, at least, NPC Chad? He was the only friend I'd ever really had. I decided to do that quest first and tapped the quest to set it as my active quest. As I did, another alert popped up in the top-right corner of my vision that read 'Map Updated'. I slid the quest window to my right to close it and then tapped the alert, which brought up a new window with a road map of Columbus titled 'World Map'. On the map were two markers: one shaped like an arrow, pointing to my current location in the world, and one that looks like a pin stuck into the map, indicating the location of my currently active quest. I shrunk the map down and moved it up into the top-left corner of my field of view, and headed out the door. According to the map, I would be meeting up with my "friend" at a place called "Capitol Square", so I threw open the door and headed down to the bus stop to wait for the southbound bus. As I left my apartment, I expected to be hit with the familiar cold Ohio air, but instead I was met with an unseasonably warm Autumn breeze. When I arrived at the bus stop, I was surprised to find that the bus was already there, just sitting there as if it were waiting for me. I stepped onto the bus, where I was immediately greeted by the bus driver.

"Hello! Where can I take you today?" he asked. As soon as he did, a window popped up in front of me, with a list of all of the bus stops in Columbia. I scrolled through the list until I saw the Capitol Square stop, and tapped it. "Ah, Capitol Square, huh?" the bus driver said as the window disappeared, "A trip to Capitol Square will cost you 20 credits." Suddenly, a new window popped up in front of me that read: "Pay 20 credits to teleport to Capitol Square?" Credits? I assumed that was the currency for the game world. I quickly opened up my inventory and saw listed on my items list that I had 100 credits. Perfect! I closed my inventory and accepted the 20 credit charge. The window disappeared and the bus driver spoke up again.

"Great! Have a seat in the backseat and we'll be there in no time!" he said with a smile. I attempted to smile back, and made my way to one of the seats on the bus. Deep down, I knew he was an NPC, but the bus driver's 3D model and AI were so well designed that he seemed like a real person. And I'm not great at interacting with real people. As soon as I sat down in my seat, my eyesight turned a bit hazy, and then faded to black.

"What the hell?!" I wanted to shout, but I couldn't move anything. It was almost like my consciousness was existing outside my body. After a second of mentally freaking out, my vision seemed to come back, popping up in the blackness: a screen with large red text that read "LOADING SCREEN PLACEHOLDER". I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that I wasn't actually going blind. A few seconds later, the text faded and my eyesight slowly returned to normal. But I hadn't gone anywhere like I expected to, I was still sitting on the same bus. I stood up from my seat and examined my surroundings. The interior of the bus looked exactly the same, but instead of sprawling apartment buildings, the window displayed a large park I didn't recognize. I hopped off the bus and glanced up at my map. The quest pin was just across the street in the park, a few hundred feet in front of the Ohio Statehouse. I ran over to the nearest crosswalk and waited for the little man to illuminate. I couldn't see Chad from where I was, but I was sure he was there. Who else would it be? The walk sign illuminated and I sprinted across the street. As I approached the quest pin on the map, I began scanning the area for Chad, but he wasn't there. When I reached where the pin was taking me, I stopped just next to where the pin would've been sticking out of the ground.

 _Huh_ , I thought, _where is he?_ Just as the thought entered my mind, I heard someone call out from behind me.


End file.
